New York, Je T'Aime
by hidinginplainsight
Summary: Marinette manages to get her class all the way over the Atlantic for a two-week trip in New York City, and Alya manages to consistently be the greatest wingman on earth. Will teens abroad lead to rumbling hearts? Will things somehow go horribly wrong? I mean yeah, come on. This is a fanfiction ya goof.
1. Chapter 1

A NOTE ON THE TEXT: Dialogue that is spoken in { } is to be understood to be in English, whereas everything else, unless otherwise stated, should be understood to be in French. Which is a little funny because I'm obviously WRITING in English, but hey. Mon française est vraiment mauvais. Enjoy!

* * *

"Which leads us to just one last thing for the day," Mme. Bustier continued, adjusting her glasses, "this year's class trip."

A hushed silence fell over the room. Not a single shuffle could be heard. The teacher sighed. If only they could be this attentive during the actual lessons...

"Your class' fundraiser at the Dupain-Cheng bakery was surprisingly sucessful, and because of that, plus a generous donation from the Agreste family, it's my pleasure to tell you that this year..." A deep breath of preparation: "We will be flying over to New York City for two wee-"

The end of the sentence was drowned out by an ecstatic yell from the student body. Marinette threw her arms up in the air and turned to Alya.

"We did it! I _told_ you we could!"

Alya faked a bow, "Madame Class President, I never should have doubted your powers."

Marinette puffed out her chest, affecting the haughtiest voice she could muster. "Rome? London? Pfft! We're not like all the _other_ school trips you've been on. When you've got _me_ in charge of fundraising, we take you to all the way to _EAGLE_ Land!"

"Where freedom comes with every burger and fries," Alya mimed a little flag in the air, before laughing. "No, but seriously girl? I'm impressed. Great job."

"Yeah, great work, Marinette," came another voice, from in front of her desk. Marinette snapped to attention, finding herself locked in the bright green gaze of Adrien Agreste. He smiled at her. "I'm really excited. It's been forever since I've been to New York."

"U-uh, I mean-" Alya watched in consternation as Marinette's brain went full Google Translate trying to turn 'Crush' into 'French'. "I- uh... it wasn't j-just me, really! Your family gave men-MONEY, too!"

"Not that much, honestly." Adrien said, bashfully. "It was just a little we had lying around, and I figured the class could use it more than we could."

Marinette swallowed nervously. She knew that the Agreste family had agreed to match whatever she and her family had raised at the bakery, which was no small amount. Clearing her throat, she prepared to engage in an actual conversation with Adrien. This was a big moment for her - she knew she couldn't screw it up.

"W-when was the last time you were born?"

"...pardon?"

Shit.

"AH! I meant 'burning'. 'Boring'. 'Bored'. NO." Marinette's face began to heat up. She swept her arms across the desk in front of her, as if trying to clear her mind to form a real sentence that made _big people_ sense. "I _MEANT_ to say 'When was the last time you were uuuUHHHHH-a-BOARD a metalbird'? Plane. They're called 'planes', wait-"

Alya sighed, face in hands. Marinette was in all likelihood one of the most capable and brilliant women she knew, but the moment she got an Agreste in her sights, the girl was a god damn train wreck. Adrien, for his part, seemed to still be trying to parse out what exactly Marinette was trying to say, which Alya was sure was about as easy as watching a Japanese film without subtitles. Marinette was drowning. Alya offered a life preserver:

"Hey, when was the last time you were in New York, Adrien?" she intoned helpfully, demonstrating rather successfully how a normal functioning human would say the sentence. Marinette was still caught in some strange loop of b-words that she couldn't quite shake herself out of.

Adrien glanced up at the ceiling. "Oh jeez, I dunno. Last year for the Fashion Week, I think? I always forget when that is, to be honest." He shrugged, fixing Marinette and Alya with a smile. "I used to go more, but public school seemed more important."

"Ah, Fashion Week!" Alya smiled, hitting on what she hoped would be a topic that Marinette could form a thought about. She tapped her friend on the shoulder. "My girl here loves fashion week, being an aspiring designer and all. Isn't that right, Mari?"

"B- _BARCODES!_ "

Neither Adrien nor Alya knew exactly how to respond to that.

Unfortunately, before they could get to the bottom of that mystery, Mme. Bustier cleared her throat, trying to impart on her students the importance of filing for visas.

"Yeah, um... I'll talk to you guys later," Adrien said with a bit of a confused glance, before turning back around to give the teacher his full attention.

Marinette sunk deeper into her seat, face in hands.

"...I blacked out for a few seconds there. How exactly did that conversation go?" she whispered to Alya.

"I've said this to you before but: Train. Wreck."

* * *

"But why did she scream 'barcodes'?" Nino asked, brow furrowed. The day was ending, and with Adrien having headed out early for some vague 'scheduling reason', Nino had decided to stick with his girlfriend and her best friend.

"I don't _know_ why I said it!" Marinette grabbed angrily at her homework in her locker. She hadn't been able to meet Adrien's eyes for the rest of the school day, and doubt she'd probably have the guts to tomorrow.

Alya patted her shoulder. "She was stuck on b-words."

"Ah. Well, better than some other letters, I guess," Nino said, looking up thoughtfully.

Marinette sighed, pushing her forehead gently against the side of the metal. "I just don't get it. I just don't get why I'm such a _spaz_ around him."

Alya shrugged, face in her phone. "You got it bad. As in, 'sometimes it's hard to tell if you're having a stroke or not' bad." Alya clicked her phone off and looked at her raven-haired friend sympathetically. "I set you up good on that one, too."

Marinette pointed, not looking, "Oh, your wingman-ing was great. That wasn't the issue, I just... I don't know. It's just _every_ time..."

Nino glanced at his watch. "Maybe it would help if you thought of him as someone else?"

Marinette looked over at her friend, curiously.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you don't have a problem talking to anyone else in class. Hell, the only person I've ever seen you tongue-tied around is Adrien. And I get it - you're crushing hard, but maybe it would help if he _wasn't_ Adrien for five minutes? Like you know how people say if you're nervous talking in front of a class, you should just imagine everyone in their underwear? What if you do that, but just like... with his face?"

Marinette closed her locker, thoughtfully. "I guess it's worth a shot."

"Girl, anything is worth a shot at this point. At the rate you're going, you won't be able to introduce yourself to him before university."

"Yeah..." Marinette looked down at the ground, shouldering her bag. The trio started to head out into the Parisian streets. It was warm out today. Marinette wondered idly if New York would be warmer or colder.

"Maybe it'll be easier if you think of someone who kinda looks the same?" Nino slipped his arm around Alya. "You have any other blonde friends?"

After a beat, a small smirk played at the edge of Marinette's mouth. "Yeah, I think I've got someone in mind."

She had to talk to that dumb alley cat soon, anyway.

* * *

It had been a quiet night - no activity to speak of. Paris' most famous icon was lit up like a lighthouse, shining out silently across the streets and their arrondissements. It was a beacon of hope, and momentary peace. In her moments of doubt, Ladybug liked to think that maybe - just maybe - she brought a similar kind of warmth to the people of her city. Plain, boring Marinette could never be compared to a monument, but perhaps Ladybug could.

"Say, Chat," she began, swinging her legs off the side of the metal girding.

"Yes, milady?" Chat Noir twirled his tail idly. He didn't mind the down nights. It meant conversations like this could happen.

"Well," Ladybug wet her lips, "you know I don't like to discuss... personal stuff."

"Yes, a well-documented facet of our paw-tnership."

"Right, um," she looked up at the sky. "So, I've got to go away for a few weeks starting next Monday. It's really not a big deal or anything - like I said, it's just personal stuff, but I wanted to let you know. Make sure you'd be okay with it."

Chat stopped spinning his tail for a moment, curious and a little concerned. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, it's just..." she sighed, "it's just this... _thing_ , and I've been looking forward to it for a while, so. Yeah. If... that's alright?"

After a moment, he laughed softly. "Well, it's been a dry spell lately for akuma activity - a _very_ long dry spell - so we'll probably be fine. I have to say though: not the best timing, milady. I actually have to leave soon, too."

Ladybug glanced up at her partner, curiously. "What do you mean?"

"It's a similar thing," he intoned, sighing. "It's... it's actually a class trip, to be dead honest."

Ladybug smirked. _'tis the season,_ she thought. "You go to lycée?"

"Don't you?"

"Well, yeah, but..."

 _But I'm just boring Marinette. You, Chat Noir? You could be damn near anyone._ Chat caught her eyes, waiting earnestly on her next words. She frowned. "Too personal."

Chat mimed an arrow wound to the heart. "Ah! My lady wounds me again! When will I earn her truest trust?!"

Ladybug stood, laughing good-naturedly. "Too dramatic by half, chaton. You should have been an actor, not a superhero." She punched his shoulder playfully. A moment of silence fell between the two friends. After a moment, she looked at him. "You _have_ my trust, you know that, right?"

Chat's breath caught a little in his throat. No matter how many times he saw it, he could never quite get over that shade of blue. He nodded. "Yeah, I know. I apologize for my im-purr-tinance." The bow he affected afterwards garnered him an eye-roll, but another smile.

Not that the crimson-clad superhero would know this, but the boy behind Chat's mask collected Ladybug's smiles. At his weakest moments in his father's palatial mansion, that boy would live off the memory of their warmth.

"Right, right." Ladybug sighed, looking out over the water. Chat stood beside her and joined in the appreciation of the view. Ladybug started to speak, and then thought better of it, closing her mouth softly.

"What's up, bug?" he prompted.

"No, it's stupid."

"I promise I will do everything in my power not to mock or pun."

Ladybug cocked an eyebrow at him. "A rare moment of quiet from you? Wow, what did I do to get so lucky?"

"You're Ladybug. I hear you're good with luck."

She snorted a laugh before turning back to the city. "No, it's just that where I'm going on the trip? They mostly speak English, and I... I mean, well I can't."

Truth be told, even with all her unexplained absences, Marinette was a reasonably ace student in lycée. Except for one glaring class just chock full of failure. English had managed to drag down her GPA just severely and often for Marinette to dread its looming application in the states.

 _Stupid nonsense language..._ she thought darkly to herself.

Chat stifled a laugh, prompting Ladybug to shoot a glare.

 _"Hey."_

"My apologies! Your intellect is sharp as your beauty: it's a bit of a shock to discover milady is not bilingual."

"Oh, no I am."

"Really?"

"Yes, in addition to French, I'm also fluent in 'idiot cat'."

Chat glanced down to find her smirking up at him, a joke in her eyes. After a moment he burst into laughter. "Ah, but that's really too bad your voyage is so soon!" Chat continued. "I'm actually reasonably good with English. I could have given you lessons. Helped to train your tongue." He winked.

Bold.

Ladybug's brows arched. She crossed her arms. "Oh, _really?"_

Chat Noir nodded, "No, seriously though. I watch a lot of American movies."

She drummed her fingers on her arm. "I don't believe you."

"{Well, what do you want me to say, then?}" Chat Noir rattled off, in nearly perfect accent-less English. "{I love movies, sure, but I could also just go on and on about the NBA. LeBron James? A national hero, no matter what side of the pond you're on.}" Chat pretended to throw a basketball into an imaginary hoop. "{Three points!}"

Chat relished the look of genuine shock on his Lady's face. She very quickly fought to wipe it from her features, but the damage was done. He took the opportunity to grab her fingers in his and kiss the back of her hand. "{It's an older quote, but it's one I've always wanted to use on you: You had me at hello.}"

"Okay, now you're just showing off."

Chat laughed, shrugging. "Guilty as charged."

Ladybug leaned back, exasperated. "Buuuugggghhh! I get enough crap from my parents for being so bad at English, but you're also, like, a fluent speaker? What the hell, Chat Noir?! How do you know it so well?!" When she looked back at Chat, there was a regretful smile in his eyes.

"Too personal, Buginette," was all he said, before his miraculous began to beep. Ladybug's joined him in chorus a moment later.

She sighed. "We'd better get going. Nothing's going to happen tonight. And hopefully for the next two weeks."

"Hey," Chat Noir touched her arm softly, just enough to get her to turn back. "I know that next Monday isn't a lot of time to prepare, but if I may make a suggestion? Listen to American pop music. When I was studying, it really helped cement things like pronunciation and cadence. Heck, even just useful phrases that you can pop out from time to time. In my experience, there's no faster way to learn a language than through music."

There were no puns attached and no overly dramatic flourishes to downplay emotions. Chat Noir was just being... nice. Genuine. Ladybug felt a small warmth spread in her chest, in a place that usually only Adrien was allowed.

She smiled at him.

"That's... really sweet, Chaton. Thank you, I'll keep that in mind."

She tossed up her yo-yo and prepared to swing.

"I..."

Ladybug paused, looking back.

"Hm?"

Chat Noir looked unsure of what exactly he was about to say. After a moment, he gathered himself and bowed. "I hope you have an im-paw-sibly relaxing vacation, milady. I'm sure it will be the cat's meow."

Chat Noir's eyes went wide as he felt the soft push of Ladybug's hand on the top of his head. After a quick pat, she leaned near his ears - his real ear. He felt the heat of her breath when she whispered:

"I'm gonna miss you too, kitty."

And with that she was away.

* * *

Upon returning home, Tikki had retired to her cookies and a nap, but Marinette wasn't yet tired. She took her second shower for the day, moreso to feel the water run over her skin than for any desire to actually be clean. Showers helped her think, and she couldn't sleep yet.

She wondered, and not for the first time, at her incredible luck. That the girl who was her and yet was nothing like her had not one but two best friends. She knew that she was blessed, somehow. Ladybug allowed her to do to what she was born to do, what so many people could only dream of - hell, when she had the spots on, she could practically fly. But there was always the disconnect as well.

She was two girls with the same face. One of them had a mask, but with the mask came a whole different part of herself. Marinette liked the compartmentalization, to a degree; Ladybug wouldn't spaz out around her crush the way Marinette might. Marinette was just a girl, after all. Marinette was just...

...a train wreck.

She turned off the water and started to dry herself off. Marinette had never been the biggest fan of her own body. She knew that her suit left little to the imagination, but the spots dazzled. Near anyone would look good in them. She could only imagine that mystique and excitement was most of what Chat Noir was actually attracted to. The cat was a shameless flirt, but she knew that deep down most of it was harmless.

They were friends. Partners. Closeness came with the territory.

Not for the first time, Marinette wondered if she ever could be attracted to Chat Noir. He was a little handsome, in his own roguish kinda way, but she felt like the partnership would always be more important than that. First and foremost they had to work together. What if they were a couple and they fought? How would that clog up the gears of their partnership? Would he still be on the same page with her in a fight, like he always was?

And besides, if they did attempt to start something, what would he do if he ever found out that she was just... well, she was...

Marinette's hand glided over the fog on her mirror, revealing her face.

She attempted a smile.

Those spots really could dazzle a boy.

Tikki was still snoozing when Marinette walked in and laid down. She still didn't feel tired. She found her thoughts drifting at first to Adrien, and then to Chat Noir. Lazily she tried to push their faces together in their head.

 _Impossible._ She was fond of Chat, and Adrien was of course perfect, but they were too separate for words.

 _Well, it was a good thought, Nino._

Giving up, she opened her phone again and slipped in her headphones. She started browsing through music on the iTunes store.

Lorde was from New Zealand. They spoke English. Was Lorde any good?

* * *

The plane ride was long, and Alya was restless. Her foot kept tapping on the aisle, prompting Marinette to turn up her music again and again. Movies were unfortunately out of the question, at least in terms of improving in any measure - the plane only had the dubs.

"I can't take this," Alya grumbled, throwing her hands in the air. "This is the longest thing ever."

"You could try to sleep," Marinette offered.

"I'm not tired. I went to bed early last night." Alya's head perked up. "Is that what you're supposed to do for jet lag, of is that the opposite of what you're supposed to do?"

Marinette took out an earphone, shrugging. She typed a phrase into the Google Translate app on her phone. Looking over her shoulder, Alya nudged her.

"Whatcha doing?"

"Nothing really. I heard somewhere that listening to music in English might help me practice, so I bought some music recently and I've been typing out some phrases. Hey, how do you spell {liability}?"

"It's the song title," Alya pointed. "It's spelled right there on your phone."

Marinette slumped forward. "Man, I am _bad_ at this."

She felt a small tap on her shoulder, and followed Alya's eyes up to the aisle. Adrien was in the middle of removing something from his bag. He had flown first class, at his father's insistence (and in his father's company), and the girls could just make him out beyond the divider.

Alya leaned over and whispered in Marinette's ear, "I've done you a favor, by the way."

"Oh?"

Alya nodded proudly. "Wingman of the year." Marinette giggled.

"I mean, I don't doubt that. I just hope I'll be able to do anything with the opportunities."

"Oh, you won't have a choice. You'll have to interact with him."

"What? Why?"

"Because Adrien and Nino are staying in our suite."

Everything in Marinette's brain came to a screeching halt.

She couldn't make words for several moments - her mouth had stopped working altogether, in any language. Grabbing Alya by the shoulders, Marinette spun the other girl so she could look into her eyes, and make sure that this wasn't some cruel joke.

"You wh- _WHAT?_ "

"I pulled some strings," Alya shrugged, clearly very pleased with herself. "The class had to be four to a room. I figured that if the setup was like that, we could say we'd crash boy/boy, girl/girl, but when the chaperones went to bed for the night, Nino and I could crash together in one of the rooms, and you and Adrien could, well, y'know-"

Marinette's heart exploded. She was dead now.

Blood rushing to her face, she started waving her hands in front of her. "No no no no no no no no no NO, Alya, are you insane?!"

Alya shot some finger guns her friend's way. "The best kind of insane!"

"But a million things could go wrong! It's probably illegal somehow! I'm not going to American jail! Or, like, wh-what if he walks in when my suitcase is open and he sees l-like, my u-u-un-" Marinette couldn't even force the word out. She swallowed. "Something _private?_ "

"Well then, I hope ya brought cute panties, girl. Because this shit is happening." There was a scary kind of triumph on the face of Alya Césaire, a finality in her voice that insisted there were no other rooming options left available.

Marinette leaned back in her seat, forcing shallow breaths. There was no way. There was no way this was going to go well or happen easily. She still couldn't speak full sentences to the boy, and now they were going to be in the same room for two weeks? They were going to be sleeping only a few feet away from each other? For TWO weeks?

Glancing back up towards first class, she caught sight of Adrien again, who returned her gaze with a smile. He let out a small, friendly wave.

Marinette's hand drifted up in response.

"Oh my god, Alya, I'm not going to survive. I'm going to literally die in New York City."

"Well, I hear it's the 'greatest city on earth', so at least you've got that to look forward to."

"Alya, I think I'm going to throw up."

"New York is gonna be wild, girl."

Not that Marinette would have understood it even if she had still been listening, but from the long forgotten speakers leading to her phone, Lorde said

{I'm waiting for it. That green light. I want it.}


	2. Chapter 2

There had been some turbulence when coming into JFK International Airport, but things had mostly worked out okay for the rest of the plane ride, save for the seemingly unending panic attack that Marinette had been experiencing since Alya's revelation.

 _It won't work. There's no way it will work._ The words kept repeating through her head, even as the girls made their way slowly forward to the customs counter. _He's going to think I'm so boring. He's going to think I'm so lame. There's no chance that I won't do something stupid and embarrassing and lose the chance that we'll ever... be..._

She reddened a bit. If Marinette was being totally honest with herself, she knew deep down that she would probably _never_ find the confidence to ask out Adrien Agreste. She wasn't even sure at times that doing so was even her real end goal. He was sweet, he was considerate, he was handsome and worldly. He was truly all she'd ever wanted in a boyfriend, but what truly was she in comparison?

 _I don't even know what we'd talk about..._

Marinette shook the thoughts out of her head. All she had to do was not screw up anything for two weeks or lose all chances for whatever she wanted with Adrien. Forever.

Great.

When she and Alya were beckoned forward, Marinette straightened herself up, forced thoughts of Adrien from her mind, and approached the counter.

"{Passports please,}" beckoned the border agent, to which Alya and Marinette complied immediately. Upon receiving two passports over the counter, the agent looked up, confused. "{This is supposed to be one at a time.}"

Alya nodded, pointing at Marinette, "{Her English is very bad.}"

"{HELLO TO YOU, SIR!}" was all Marinette had to add. She had known in advance that customs would be one of the only times where speaking English was absolutely unavoidable. She was very confident that she had this one down.

The border agent stared blankly for a second, before sighing and starting lazily to examine the passports. It had already been a very long day, and without even a single glance towards his subjects, or a single breath taken during the sentence, he said, "{Do you have anything to declare before entering the United States? Any food or drink that you're bringing from France?}"

Alya and Marinette stared, wide eyed. Alya leaned over to her friend, "Damn, I understood literally 'France'."

"{GOOD MORNING!}" was what Marinette had to add. "{I AM NOT CRIMINAL.}"

"Shit, uh," Alya turned back to the American, running a hand over her forehead. "{I'm sorry, I don't understand. Do we have... what?}"

"{Food. Drink.}"

"He's asking us if we want... something to eat? Is it like a traditional New York greeting?"

"{NO THANK YOU. NOT HUNGRY TODAY.}"

"Wow, I really have no idea what he's going on about." Alya looked around for help, "You'd think they would put someone who spoke _French_ on the plane arriving from France."

"{Wait,}" said the border agent, also currently looking for aid, "{Hold on, we're understaffed today.}"

"What the hell is he saying now?" Marinette asked. This wasn't going exactly as smoothly as she had hoped.

"Honestly? Couldn't tell you."

Unbidden and unexpected by everyone, a fourth voice joined the conversation, one that had the shape and timber of all Marinette's dreams. "He was asking if you're bringing food. If you have any in your bags. It's illegal to bring in food."

Marinette couldn't quite stifle a gasp as Adrien stepped to the counter. "{I don't think they have anything, sir. This is just a school trip.}"

"{You can't answer for them. They must legally answer for themselves.}"

"{No! No food, we have no food or drinking.}" Alya said emphatically.

"{I AM fuh-f-FRANCE!}" Marinette shouted, trying desperately not to look at Adrien as she did so.

While languages are of course not universal, human emotions are. As Marinette stared down the TSA Officer, her face the color of a fire hydrant and sheer, unadulterated panic in her eyes, the officer decided that one of two logical conclusions could be drawn from her reactions:

1\. This is deffo a terrorist.

2\. This is deffo a teenaged girl, and she's had a crush on that boy who just stepped up for most of her high school career, and she knows that this class trip is going to be a make-it-or-break-it moment for them, and she's praying to whatever her god is that I don't prompt her to speak English again because wow he's so much better at it than she could ever hope to be.

For a moment, no one moved or spoke.

Officer Johnson stamped both of the girls' passports, and handed them back through the window.

"{Welcome to the United States, please enjoy your stay.}"

* * *

As the class regrouped, waiting for the bus that would cart them from the airport and into the city proper, Alya heaved a great sigh.

"Damn, looks like you're not the only one who needs to practice, Mari."

Marinette kicked at the ground, "Well, I mean, you did better than me. I think."

Alya smirked at her friend, "Yes, I'm sure you were the deciding factor in our admittance."

"Hey! I was _trying,_ okay? They just talk so _fast._ "

Alya nodded emphatically. That much was indisputable. She cracked her neck and started to look around, "Well, we all got through. Your Boy Wonder really saved a lot of people's bacon back there."

It was true. After Marinette and Alya's interaction, the officer had agreed to let Adrian stay near the window as de facto translator for the rest of his class. It was an action mostly designed to speed up the process, but unbeknownst to anyone but Officer Johnson himself, allow to Marinette to vacate the premises as stealthily as possible.

The last thing he needed today was someone fainting while he was on duty.

Back outside, Marinette gathered herself and took a moment to look around. "Wow."

"What's that?"

"I mean... we're here. We're really _here_ ," she giggled, excitement finally overriding her stress. "I can't believe the cars are really that big! It looks just like the movies!"

Alya nodded, taking her first breaths of air in the new land. To her, she thought it somehow smelled different. A little more polluted, perhaps, but there was a crispness to it. The idea that not everywhere on earth smelled the same was somehow novel to her. What did Peru smell like? Russia?

She smiled and slipped her arm around Marinette's shoulder. "You really did do it, Mari. We're here."

Marinette leaned onto her friend and smiled. Unbidden by anything else, a thought rose to the top of her mind.

 _What would Chat Noir say if he could see this right now?_

"Hey, I got us some coffee," Adrien said.

Mari blinked, turning. Adrien stood in front of them, holding four Starbucks in one of those cardboard coffee holders. He smiled and handed her one of the drinks. "Thought you might be able to use some after the flight."

Marinette felt the butterflies rising up in her chest, and wrestled them down. She was going to be sharing a room with Adrien. It was going to be two weeks.

This was going to _have_ to work. She was _Ladybug_ , god damn it. She could do this!

It was time to put Nino's plan into action.

Marinette summoned her willpower, and forced herself to imagine that she was speaking with the spots on, and that she was just talking to Chat. This she could do. This was manageable.

She reached out her hand and took the drink. "Thanks, Adrien. T-that's really cool of you."

"You like iced coffee, right?"

"Mostly I like l-lattes, but iced is fine."

"Oh, jeez," Adrien said, looking genuinely disappointed. "I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay!" Marinette said quickly, "I... I actually kinda wanted iced right this second..."

Which wasn't exactly true, but for once she wasn't fucking this up and honestly she would have gladly drunk motor oil to finally finally _finally_ stick the landing on a conversation with Chat Noir.

 _Adrien_. She meant 'with Adrien'.

Beside her, Alya was agape. She paused a moment before reaching out to grab her own drink. "Thanks, Adrien!" she said. "Honestly, the plane was so long! I was dyin'."

Adrien chuckled to himself, "Yeah, transatlantic stuff is always a little rough."

"It's so boring!" Alya groused.

"Yeah, I know. I just watched movies the whole time. What about you guys?"

"I l-listened to music. English stuff," Marinette offered. "I was trying to get a little b-better before we landed."

Adrien lit up, and Marinette fought to keep another flutter out of her chest. _Chat,_ Marinette's mind reminded her. _Pretend it's just Chat. Think of him as Chat._ She decided to drink the coffee before she said or did anything stupid.

"Oh, that's a great idea!" Adrien said, sipping from his own coffee. "When I was studying, it really helped cement things like pronunciation and cadence. In my experience, there's no faster way to learn a language than through music."

Marinette paused, the straw halfway to her mouth.

 _...what?_

She looked up at him fully, a little taken aback. Adrien had already turned to give Nino the fourth cup of coffee, but his words bounced around in her head.

 _Wow,_ she thought, _he's really making this pretend-he's-Chat thing easy for me._

Next to her, Alya bumped her with her shoulder. Whispering: "Girl, what the hell? That was so much better! Maybe New York really is gonna turn things around for you?"

Marinette giggled, lifting her cup finally to her lips. Maybe this could actually work?

The bus' blaring horn sounded off right behind her head, causing Marinette to spill the (mercifully) iced coffee on the ground in front of her, but also (mostly) down the front of her own pink shirt.

The bus ride was very wet, and Marinette spent it using international data rates to google if it was possible whatsoever to remove coffee stains from cotton.

* * *

New York City, with 8.5 million people, is the most populous city in the United States, beating out the sprawl of Los Angeles by a whopping five million people. It is the twenty-fifth largest city on earth, and the tenth highest city, by number of high-rise buildings.

Paris, with 2.2 million people, is less than one-third the population size. The tallest building is the Tour Montparnasse over at La Defense, standing at 210 meters. The Eiffel Tower only beats it out by 90, sitting at neat 300 meters, and absolutely dwarfing everything around it. Paris has height restrictions on buildings, you see, to preserve the historic beauty of the city. Most everything is only three or four stories high.

The One World Trade Center in Battery Park is 541 meters tall and has nintey-four stops on its elevator.

Marinette couldn't stop looking up.

She stood at 42nd street, jaw agape. It was just so _huge_. She'd seen New York countless times in movies before (Spider-Man in particular had long been somewhat of a weakness for Ladybug - she'd stolen some swinging techniques from her fictional counterpart), but to actually be there in Times Square really drove home the point that everything was so much taller than she was used to. She felt dwarfed; surrounded by lumbering metal giants. She had never tested the limits of her yo-yo's reach, but she sincerely doubted she would be able to reach the tops of the buildings with it.

Luckily, she probably wouldn't have to find out.

Adrien, for his part, could never get used to the overwhelming noise of the city. He had long suspected that after becoming Chat Noir, something odd had happened to his ears. He just heard things better. It wasn't superhuman hearing, per se, but just ever-so-slightly more acute and focused - something that wasn't super great when you were in a city that was constantly inundated with horn sirens and 8.5 million voices all talking to each other.

And sirens. Sirens and sirens and sirens. Every time he'd been here, he had found it hard to sleep over all the people in New York that needed help somewhere.

Having been the only one who had ever stepped foot in the city before, everyone else seemed understandably in awe. He saw Nino taking pictures of everything with his phone, Rose pulled excitedly at Juleka's arm, pointing at some billboard advertisements for Broadway shows, Max seemed similarly enamored with the adjacent billboard - adorned with some game that Adrien had heard about, but not yet had the chance to play...

Adrien glanced over at Marinette with a grin. He'd decided to stick a little closer to her since 'the coffee incident', because he couldn't help but feel that it was at least in part his fault. Marinette hadn't asked for a coffee, and she certainly hadn't asked to need to buy a new shirt anytime soon.

Besides, given her proximity to his best friend's girlfriend, Adrien had long wanted to get to know Marinette more. In class she was cool as hell! She stuck up for her friends, she was _actually_ a talented designer, she excelled in school (for the most part)...

But for whatever reason she just never seemed to want to talk to him. Every time Adrien tried to engage, it was only a sentence or two before she totally shut down.

He had long since rationalized that it must have had something to do with her not enjoying his company, though he didn't know why she didn't just come out and say it. She never seemed to have that problem with Chloe.

This all being said, the last conversation they'd engaged in before the bus had nearly been... normal. It felt cool to finally talk to her for once! Maybe the girl didn't hate him so much after all?

"Pretty cool, huh?" he said to her. Marinette nodded absently, still caught up on the view. Adrien took out his phone, and turned to someone passing by.

"{Excuse me?}" he said, "{This is my friend's first time in the US. Would you mind taking a picture of us together?}"

This snapped Marinette out of her reverie.

"Huh?" she said to no one in particular, before feeling Adrien's arm slip around her shoulders.

What was happening? He was warm. God, he was so warm. How did we get here? _Is this the first time Adrien's ever touched me ever?_ How did he smell so nice after a nine hour flight? _Oh no what do I smell like right now? What's my name, again?_

Marinette heard someone speaking English in front of her and refocused to see Adrien's phone trained on them. She her cheeks felt hot. Her heart couldn't stop pounding, but this was really happening and Adrien's arm was still around her shoulder.

"W-wait, what are you doing?! What are we doing?"

"Taking a picture!"

"What sh-should I do?!"

Adrien shrugged, and held up a peace sign as a suggestion. Marinette giggled slightly at the insanity of it all. As she held up two fingers, she kept herself reasonably calm by once again trying to think of it as Chat who had her pulled snugly to his side.

A smile burst out across her face at the thought, and the camera clicked. A moment later the anonymous stranger nodded in approval. It was a good one.

Adrien thanked him. Taking the phone back, he pulled up the picture to show Marinette.

"Aw, it's a great one!" he said, as Marinette beheld the first ever picture of her standing next to Adrien God Damn Agreste. This happened. This really just happened. "I'll send it to you, alright? So you can remember the first time you saw New York."

Marinette couldn't imagine a single force on heaven or earth that would ever cause her to forget this moment.

As Mme. Bustier finally started to corral the unruly French kids towards their hotel, Marinette felt like she was walking on air. She felt like if she reached up and spread her fingers, she could brush them across the surface of the moon.

* * *

Once his son was out and distracted and taken care of, Gabriel Agreste took a moment to gaze across the Manhattan skylike from his private suite.

With the capturing of the miraculouses being his main goal, it had always, of course, made the most sense to prey where the owners of the miraculouses actually were, but over and over again, his akumas had failed to do anything whatsoever to make any headway.

When one tries and fails, and tries and fails again, one must switch tactics: that's just good business.

When Adrien had asked about donations for his class trip, Gabriel had seen the perfect opportunity to take a little sojourn abroad, to newer hunting grounds.

He sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. He was tired from the plane, tonight wouldn't be any good, but soon he would raise an akuma or two. He was sure that given time, Ladybug and Chat Noir would come running across the Atlantic, bringing their miraculouses with them to unfamiliar territory. And unfamiliar territory? Why, that might just be _dangerous_. Something could happen. Someone could make a mistake and finally let themselves be captured because of it.

Gabriel chuckled to himself. This could wait though. Maybe tomorrow, maybe a day or two after.

8.4 million people walked the streets of New York. With that many people crammed into a small little island, people got sad and angry every day.


	3. Chapter 3

The hotel suites were divided into a common area with a television, kitchen, and balcony, and two adjoining bedrooms on either side. The bathroom, which was shared, was not located in the room, but halfway down the hallway, and serviced the entire floor of the hotel.

The balcony, where Alya was currently standing, offered a 16-story view down onto 8th Ave. She watched as Adrien and Nino exited the lobby, in search of some snacks that the group could share later in the night.

"Man this place rocks, Mari!" she called back into their room. Marinette was currently scrubbing her coffee-stained shirt with awful, gravely, pink soap that she had taken from the floor's shared bathroom. She wasn't making much progress.

If Chat Noir were here, she was sure he would say something like 'That wasn't a very _ice_ way to start New York, was it? You should have ordered a _cat-_ ppuchino instead!'

God, he was rubbing off on her.

Marinette sighed, and smiled at the sliver of her friend she could see through the crack in the door. "That's awesome, Alya! I'll come see in a sec."

Looking down at her shirt front, she decided that unfortunately this shirt was well and truly ruined, and no amount of shitty pink soap was going to make any sort of real difference.

Marinette slipped her coffee stained shirt over her head and let out a groan. It wasn't just the shirt that had brown splotches all down the front. Muttering curses to herself, Marinette cracked open her suitcase and began the search for a new shirt _and_ bra.

 _This one had matched with the panties, too..._

The offending objects landed on the floor with a wet plop, and Marinette kicked them under the bed in frustration. With a sigh, she changed into another set of clothes, and went to join Alya on the balcony.

"It's so cool! The Fashion Institute is right over there!" Alya was exploring the area on Google Maps, and tilted her phone so Marinette could see. Naturally, she had already bothered the downstairs desk for the hotel wifi codes. "You should go drop off an application."

Marinette laughed. "Right. And accidentally yell something in English about 'crack houses' or god knows what. They'll be _begging_ me to attend." Craning her neck, Marinette tried to see if she could see the end of the island in any direction. She glanced up and made a mental note of the height of the building across the avenue.

 _Yeah. I could reach that for sure._

 _...I think. If Chat could get me up half way with the baton-_

"Your work speaks for itself, Mari. Give it four years and you'll be back here - full scholarship." Alya tilted her phone to the side and snapped a pic of her friend on the balcony.

Marinette shook herself out of her reverie. Turning towards another click of Alya's phone she said, "Oh, that reminds me: do you have Adrien's phone number?"

Alya paused, cocking an eyebrow. "...oh?"

Marinette felt a small blush come to her cheeks, "N-no, it's not-"

"Did something happen?"

"NAH, it's nothing lik-"

"What happened?"

"NOTHING, it was just a little-"

"Did you use protection? Tell me you're on the pill."

Marinette pushed her best friend playfully, laughing. She felt the blush hot on her cheeks, and rubbed them in an attempt to alleviate it. "Stop! We just took a picture together in Times Square, and he said he'd... send it to me, is all."

Alya smiled, genuine and warm. "That is adorable."

Marinette giggled again, still riding a little high from the memory of the event. "Yeah, it was... really nice." She coughed, regaining control of herself. "But we had to get to the hotel, so I didn't have time to exchange contact information with him, so... you know. Do you have it?"

Alya looked at her for a moment. "I do."

Marinette took out her phone. "Great! What is-"

"But I'm not going to tell you what it is," Alya pointed her phone at her friend. "I am rooting for you, girl. I am rooting for you _hard_. But some things you have to do yourself, and asking a boy for his number is one of them."

Marinette had _never_ felt so betrayed.

"But Aaaaaaaaallyyaaa-"

"No you stop that."

"-but it's _haaaaaarrrrd-"_

"LIFE IS HARD, MARINETTE. IT'S TIME FOR YOU T-!"

The door to the suite opened, revealing Nino and Adrien. Alya spun, shocked.

"-toooooooo see if there's a pool in this place! Can you say 'hot tub'? I sure can!"

Alya took Marinette's hand and dragged her into their room, slamming the door behind them.

Nino and Adrien stood in the doorway, groceries in hand.

N: "I'm tellin' you man - boys are _not_ the weird ones. Not by a long shot."

* * *

Owing to the relatively late arrival of the plane, and the understandable concern over jetlag, Mme. Bustier had long beforehand designated the first afternoon and evening that the class would spend in America as "free time," to allow them to settle into their dorms and to sleep and prepare for their packed day tomorrow.

These being high school students abroad, absolutely no one did that. Except Max.

It was 10pm, and Nino had set up a makeshift set of speakers in the common room of their suite, where currently about 95% of the class (except Max) had taken up residence. Giddy from the general feeling of adventure that being in a new place brings, chatter sounded throughout the room. Through ways no one could quite discern, Chloe Bourgeois had even managed to sneak in a few bottles of wine, which nearly all of the class (except Max) had enjoyed partaking of.

They're French. This shit ain't that weird to them.

Even so, Marinette had nearly declined her glass. She almost never drank back home, owing to the fact that she could imagine nothing more catastrophic than an inebriated Ladybug swinging into action. But here?

Well, there were no akumas in America.

Hell, there hadn't been any akumas _anywhere_ for three whole months. She'd still met up with Chat nightly, to patrol, to train, to prepare, to talk, but what had originally begun as an akuma dry spell had ended up being downright odd. Was Papillon gone? Had he given up?

Neither her nor Chat really knew. All they knew was that it allowed them time to just... y'know... hang out. Hang out and talk.

They talked a lot now.

Marinette sipped at her Chardonnay again and glanced lazily across the room. It had been nearly a week since she last saw that stupid cat.

 _I wonder what he's doing right now. Is he having fun on his trip?_

Marinette felt a small, ugly push in the pit of her stomach.

 _ **SLAM!**_ HERE'S AN INTERESTING THING ABOUT FRENCH:

The phrase "I miss you" in English follows the standard English subject-verb-object sentence structure. The noun is doing the action at the object. I. Lack (miss). You.

Standard French also follows subject-verb-object structuring (which is rare, and important), but if you're saying "I miss you" to someone in French, the phrase you use is "Tu me manques". The subject position in the sentence is actually being taken up by the object that is BEING MISSED.

Literally: You. To me. Give lack (manques).

It's a small thing, but an incredibly poetic difference. It is not ME selfishly missing YOU, it is _your absence_ that is hurting me.

You give me lack.

Tu me manques.

 _ **SLAM!**_ WE'RE BACK

She frowned and swirled the wine glass in her hand, watching the silvery liquid make its way around the bottom of the cup.

 _Would Chat have had a glass too, if he was here? Would he have had red or white?_

 _He's **got** to be a red guy, right?_

 _..._

 _...stupid cat._

When Ivan came around and offered Marinette some more wine, she accepted.

* * *

Adrien had never had an incredibly bustling home life. Never.

He'd had friends over before - and he'd loved their company while they were there - but he'd never known what it was like to have people stay over. Sleepovers were hardly 'a thing' in the Agreste mansion.

So by 1am, when the party was winding down, and he was finishing his Merlot, Adrien actually found himself in a unique position: he had no idea what to do.

When was one supposed to excuse themselves and go to bed? When was one supposed to pull the mythical 'all-nighter' with a friend? He'd never done these things before - he had no frame of reference with which to judge the situation as it currently stood.

And the situation (as it currently stood) was this:

Chloe had drama-queen bombed out about an hour ago, taking Sabrina with her. Alix had decided that skating in the hallways of the hotel was a good idea and had set out to do so, with Kim in tow, desperate to watch how it played out. Mylene had fallen asleep after half a glass and Ivan had seen her back to her dorm room. Rose and Juleka had suddenly decided to look up movie showtimes and headed to Times Square to see the new Purge movie, and Alya had dragged Nino into one of the bedrooms to "watch some Netflix".

Max was still asleep somewhere, assuredly very pleased with himself.

This left Adrien with a strangely morose Marinette, the latter of whom was currently sitting on the balcony and looking out at the streets below.

Nino's DJ setup, while it had been practically muted, was still softly plugging away at tunes from his laptop. Adrien wandered over to the setup and cleared his throat.

Marinette started, looking back at him. She was a little flushed in the face, but didn't seem to be very drunk from Adrien's reckoning. Maybe a little sleepy. He smiled at her.

"You uh... you okay?" he asked.

Marinette thought a moment before nodding. "Y-yeah, I think I'm fine. Just k-kinda homesick."

Adrien chuckled kindheartedly. "Already?"

Marinette stretched. "Yeah. I mean, I'm so excited to be in New York, but I kinda miss my-"

Her breath caught in her throat for a moment. She breathed in slowly through her nose and looked back to Adrien.

"...my cat."

Adrien smiled hugely, "I had no idea you had a cat."

Marinette chucked, bashfully. "Yeah, well... he's a new acquisition, all things considered." She pulled herself to her feet and wandered into the living room, finally plopping herself down on the couch.

Adrien watched her as she did so. She looked a lot... calmer than she usually did around him. Still a little sad and distracted, but calmer. He sensed that whatever seemed to usually bother her about being around him wasn't really an issue at the moment. She'd barely stumbled over any words in those sentences.

Maybe now was a good time to try and become better friends? Maybe this was an all-nighter?

Scrolling through Nino's library, he started to look for some music.

"How's the English going?" he ventured, prompting a guffaw from Marinette.

"Aw, well. Y'know."

"Want to practice a little?"

Marinette finished her wine and stared at him, taken aback. Adrien walked over to the couch and offered her a hand.

For a moment, she just looked at him. To Adrien, it looked like she was trying to resolve something in her head. He noticed the flush in her cheeks get a little darker.

She accepted, allowing herself to be pulled to her feet in front of the stereo.

"Okay," Adrien said, "So the first few lines of this song are just slang - don't worry about them, okay?"

Marinette nodded, resolute. "Okay."

"If you get something wrong, don't worry: it's all part of learning. We'll go to the first chorus." Adrien clicked on a song and turned the volume up to an 'appropriate for 1am' volume.

He began: "So, {What's with these homies dissin my girl? Why do they got to front?}" Adrien pointed at his friend, indicating that translation should begin.  
Marinette furrowed her brow, listening intently.

"'What did we... um... why are these guys being mean'?"

"Yeah!" Adrien said, glowing. "Pretty much! What's after that?"

Marinette closed her eyes, concentrating. "'I know I'm yours. And I know you're mine. 'And that's'..." She opened them, looking at him. "...damn."

"{And that's for all of time}. It will last forever. Keep going."

Marinette felt a smirk play at the edge of her lips. "'I look like... your friend Holly. And you're Mary' something something." Adrien watched as the smirk turned into a full fledged smile. "'I don't care who's saying it. I don't care.'"

Perhaps emboldened by the wine, perhaps emboldened by her smile, a single thought (which had never occurred to him before) suddenly exploded into Adrien's mind:

 _She really is spectacularly beautiful._

Marinette giggled, covering her mouth to hide her grin. "That... wasn't bad, actually."

"Are you kidding?! That was _fantastic!"_

There was a small gasp as Adrien took her hands and they started to dance. Singing along with the song in English, he led Marinette around in a circle in the living room. He wanted to keep that smile on her face. He wanted to keep her smiling for once, instead of being the cause of replacing that smile with dread.

Adrien sang along to the song, and as they danced together, Marinette forgot about translating anything. For a few moments, she forgot about languages completely. She forgot she was in New York. She even forgot to be nervous in front of the most indisputably perfect boy in her class.

For a moment, she even forgot about Chat Noir.

When the second chorus came around, Adrien prompted them to sing together. Through laughter, Marinette gleefully shouted any of the words she could remember. At the end, Adrien clapped, no longer caring that it was past midnight and they were being very loud.

He turned up the music.

"You are killin' it, Mari!" he yelled.

"Ha!" She pretended to dust off her shoulders. "English ain't no _thing!"_

Quickly, Adrien took her by the waist. Marinette yelped as he lifted her handily off the ground and spun her once in the air. The room spun a little too much as she landed, but she clung to his hands and continued to move.

As long as she kept moving, she was feeling good.

Adrien lifted one of Marinette's hands up in the air and spun her in a circle. Unfortunately, the wine had altered her perception just enough that this time she felt her leg collide with the edge of the couch.  
Marinette stumbled, certain she'd lose her balance. Immediately, Adrien's hands looped around her waist, hers found his shoulders. Her balance was steadied, and the song came crashing to an end.

Both of the teens breathed heavily, their chests heaving from the impromptu exertion.

Marinette could smell the sweetness of the wine on Adrien's breath as it mixed in the air with her own. She slackened her grip on his back so that it was less of a desperate clawing, but she couldn't bring herself to let go. She wasn't exactly sure when she was _going_ to let go.

She couldn't avoid looking into his eyes. She'd always loved his eyes, but she'd never seen them this close in real life, and for the first time she realized that their particular shade of green reminded her of something.  
It was something floating at the edge of her thoughts, but... she couldn't quite put a name to it.

Adrien licked his lips and let out a smile. He looked down, bashfully. "Well, I'm sorry you miss you cat... but I hope that now you're _feline_ fine."

The smile dropped from Marinette's face.

Awkwardly, she cleared her throat, and motioned that she wanted to be let go of. Confusion reigned in Adrien's eyes, but he immediately placed her upright, allowing her to straighten herself out. She took a step back from Adrien. She wasn't meeting his gaze anymore.

For a moment, no one spoke.

Adrien rubbed the back of his neck, and said, "Hey um..." he searched for the words. "Hey, I-I'm really sorry."

No response.

"I mean it. I... I feel like I got carried away, and I got a little in your personal space there, and I-"

"I think I might go out for a bit," Marinette said. Adrien looked up, surprised. She closed her eyes, shaking her head before continuing. "I might go, um... catch that movie with Juleka and Rose or something. Just uh... just don't feel like going to bed yet."

She glanced at him, and gave a brief, weak smile. Then she crossed into her bedroom and grabbed her purse.

"Do..." he looked at the ground as she walked across the suite. Adrien had no idea how to proceed. "Do you w-want compan-"

"No, thank you." She closed the door behind her. She hadn't spared a single look back.

Adrien looked down at the carpet. He studied it for a long time.

Eventually, he reached over and turned Nino's stereo system off.

* * *

Down an alleyway, up a fire escape, spots on.

Ladybug flew through the air fast. As quickly as she possibly could she flung herself down the avenues. They were so straight and long in comparison to Paris that a single good swing with the yo-yo could shoot her like an arrow.

She didn't know where she was going, she didn't care where she was going. She couldn't be Marinette right now. She just needed to feel the wind sting her face. She needed to feel powerful and in control.

 _"Marinette, are you okay?"_ Tikki almost never spoke to her when she was in costume.

"I'm fine!" Ladybug threw the yo-yo towards another fire escape and flung herself again, chancing an arching backflip over Broadway before hooking on and rocketing forwards. Using the fire escapes was a good idea. She didn't need to hit the tops of the buildings that way.

She must be approaching the edge of the island by now. Ladybug rallied herself and flew faster.

 _"Marinette, we should talk about it."_

"Tikki, I told you I'm fine!"

 _"You're **not**."_

"I _am,_ okay! I'm _fine,_ just let me-"

She threw the yo-yo again, and gasped when it clanged against metal and went slack. She had missed. She was in free-fall.

Marinette scrambled, feeling icy panic in her chest. She tossed sideways at the building directly behind her. The rope going taut jerked her hard, taking the wind out of her and swinging her a short distance in reverse. Ladybug didn't see the windowsill, but she felt it like hot fire when her leg smacked off of it. She cried out in pain, but held on to the rope.

She didn't toss again. Discouraged, enraged, and so very tired, she let herself lazily come to a stop, hanging off the side of the building.

Breaths heaved in her chest, and she stared at the ground. She must be thirty stories up right now.

 _Would falling have killed me?_

Closing her eyes, Ladybug reached down and massaged her leg where she had collided with the windowsill. After a ragged breath in, she whispered: "Okay, Tikki. I'll stop."

Marinette climbed onto the fire escape, and as quietly as she could, she made her way to the roof of the building.

She was still breathing heavily when she looked out across New York. The city looked so alien now. It was loud and it was garish to her. Nothing at all like Paris. Home.

Ladybug wiped the sweat from her forehead and stared at her feet.

 _"Marinette?"_

Her lip trembled. She owed her an explanation. When she spoke, her voice shuddered.

"I don't know what happened. I don't. I mean, I was drinking, but I wasn't _drunk_ , and I just kept thinking of him. I kept thinking about Chat, and I don't know why. He's _fine_ , I'm sure he's fine. And it's so frustrating, because the only way I can talk to Adrien is when I think of him as Chat. And it's _hard_ , Tikki. Sometimes it feels like I'm using Chat to talk to Adrien, and sometimes it feels like somehow it's the other way around and I don't... I don't know what's going on in my head right now. I'm just really confused."

She sunk to her knees. "Adrien is a really sweet guy. He's so cute. And I don't mean that physically, I mean..." She paused. "I really, _really_ like talking to him. But when we were dancing, something just..."

 _"-reminded you of Chat."_

Ladybug nodded vehemently. "Yes! And I felt so _awful!_ It felt like I was _using_ him!"

 _"Why?"_

Marinette realized she was crying. She had never cried in the suit before. Ladybug didn't cry.

"B-because..." She wiped at the tears angrily. "Because I..."

She buried her face in her knees, and waited for it to pass.

Around her, New York buzzed with activity of every kind. People in offices working late, people hurting each other, people making love, people yelling, people laughing, people trying to sleep.

A helicopter passed across town, cutting through the air with its blades.

Eventually, Ladybug put her chin on her knees.

"Because I miss him, Tikki. I miss him and I want to share this with him."

Ladybug wiped the last of the tears away from her eyes. She'd gotten it under control now. Things were going to be okay.

She stood up.

 _"More than you want to share it with Adrien?"_

A sharp breath hissed in through her teeth.

Somewhere down below, a horn honked, and somebody let out a cackling, drunken laugh.

"Spots off, Tikki."

Nothing happened.

Ladybug clenched her fists.

"Spots _off_ , Tikki." Her hand trembled at her side. More softly, then: "...please."

Marinette took the fire escape down. Once on the ground, she realized she had no idea where she was. Everything looked the same: metal and wicked and mean. She hailed an Uber to return to the hotel, and said nothing to the driver on the way home.

When she entered, Adrien was asleep on the couch, having put a jacket over himself. Marinette frowned. She navigated back to her room as quietly as she could, removed the blanket from one of the beds, and put it over him in the living room. She crawled into her own bed still wearing her clothes.

She slept in the room alone.

 _ **AN:**_

"Buddy Holly" by Weezer was voted the "Number-One Song to Dance with Your Parisian Crush To" for fourteen years running by hidinginplainsight Magazine.

It's true.


	4. Chapter 4

Adrien had a restless sleep, and one that wasn't nearly long enough for his liking. By the time his alarm went off at 7:30, Nino was already in the kitchen making tea. Nino had always been an early riser.

Adrien angrily turned off his alarm, and blinked the sleep out of his eyes, trying to focus them on his friend. Nino waved, much more chipper than anyone had a right to be at this hour.

"'mornin!" Nino said, fitting his hat onto his head. He was already dressed and ready to go. Of course he was.

Adrien blinked twice in response. Slowly he managed to get himself up to a sitting position and started to rub his eyes. "Where's Alya?" he murmured.

Nino poured milk into his tea and started to stir. "Went to take a shower."

Adrien nodded and made some vowel sounds in response, looking around the hotel room.

Hotel. Right. He was in New York.

Nino dropped the spoon into the sink and walked down to the foot of the couch. "Why didn't you use the other bed?"

Adrien looked up, yawning. "Um... I dunno, things got a little weird at some point, and I didn't want to seem... I dunno. Creepy?"

"Ah-ha."

"Yeah, I just... I'm not sure... what happened, exactly?" Adrien looked up at his friend, searchingly. Nino shrugged.

"It's really hard to tell sometimes, man. Especially early on." Nino sipped. "I mean... you don't have to talk about it if you don't want."

"No, I'd like to, I'm just not sure where to start."

"What about with that?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"What's up with her bra?"

Adrien paused. He looked back up at Nino, his face a mask of confusion.

"...sorry, her _what?"_

Nino sipped at his tea, and pointed down to the bedsheet that Adrien had no memory of being draped over him, and to the bizarrely coffee-stained bra that clung to the top of it, approximately over Adrien's midsection.

Adrien's face turned red, and he opened his mouth to screa-

 _ **SLAM!**_ HERE'S AN INTERESTING FACT ABOUT MARINETTE DUPAIN-CHENG

Sometimes, when Marinette is upset, and tired, and maybe just a little tipsy, there are things she won't notice.

Like how when she ripped a blanket off of a bed and started dragging it across the floor last night, part of it might have hooked onto underwear that she had flung UNDER said bed in a fit of teen rage earlier that day.

We love Marinette to death.

Marinette is a train wreck.

 _ **ssssssSSSSLAM!**_

Adrien leapt up to his feet, searching for words that just wouldn't come to him.

Nino sipped again at his drink. "I mean, it's okay man. It's great for you two actually." He kicked a little at the ground, tinting red. "I mean, last night actually Alya and I, we-"

Adrien pointed a finger at him. "I don't know where that came from!"

Nino looked down at the bra, very _obviously_ and _recently_ stained by coffee, then back up at Adrien. He tilted his head. "I mean..."

"No! No, I mean, I don't know how it got there! N-nothing _happened_ at all last night! We talked a bit and then she left." Adrien picked up the bra from the ground, and held it in his hands as if it were unexploded ordinance. "Wh-what should I do? Should I give it back to her?"

Nino blinked. "Are you suggesting you go and hand Marinette her own underwear?"

"What's option B? Should I just leave it here so everyone thinks we-"

"Oh, I mean Alya already does."

 _"WHAT?"_

Nino smiled. "Yeah! Dude, she was _so_ happy about it, too!"

"This isn't something 'to be happy about', Nino! We have to do something!" Adrien ran a hand through his hair in panic. "What if she comes out and she thinks I like... _stole_ it or something?! What if-"

Adrien looked down at the brassiere in his hands. It was... really cute, actually, even with the stain. _Really_ cute.

For a moment, completely unbidden by any logical thought, Adrien's mind drifted to what Marinette might look like wearing it.

Adrien swallowed.

Then he looked desperately back up at Nino. "Maybe she's not up yet?!"

Nino's brow furrowed. "Uhh..."

"M-maybe I can just p-put it back in her room? So she doesn't notice?!" Adrien looked like a man possessed. "SO THINGS DON'T GET WEIRDER?"

Nino held up a hand. "My dude, I know you're trying to be cool about this, but-"

Adrien wasn't listening. He was already making his way to the door, and in fact his hand was already on the door, and even though Nino is saying this is a terrible idea, would ya just look at that, Adrien is _opening_ the doo-

 **TWO MINUTES EARLIER**

Marinette felt like absolute shit, and a visit to the beside mirror provided by the hotel confirmed that she looked like it, too.

She'd barely gotten any sleep. It wasn't the alcohol (there was a tiny twinge of a headache, but that was really just adding insult to injury). No, it was the insidious, twisting feeling in the pit of your stomach where you know you just totally god damn blew it.

She'd been so rude to Adrien yesterday, and there was absolutely zero way for her to justify it to him. What could she say to him?

 _"Hey! Sorry I freaked out! I got confused because even though I've been dying for you to notice me for two years, I kept comparing you with my secret superhero companion who I might be developing feelings for. By the way, I'm Ladybug! Cool, thaaaaaanks!"_

Yeah, stellar. Slam dunk.

Maybe she could just say she was on her period? Did boys buy that anymore? Marinette sighed and buried her face in her hands. She didn't think she had the energy to try and sell any sort of story, anyway.

Today was going to be tough. She had _no_ idea how to face the boy beyond the door, and even less of how to deal with him throughout the rest of the incredibly-packed itinerary that Mme. Bustier had planned for them today. There was going to be a French-speaking tour guide and everything.

Marinette looked into the bedside mirror provided by the hotel and gathered her strength.

 _You'll figure something out. You'll jump and then figure out the parachute. You're **lucky.**_

Marinette tried to force a smile, but it wasn't coming. She didn't feel lucky.

 _Maybe the luck only worked in Paris?_

Looking down at her clothes, she let out a disgusted scoff. She would kill to have time for a shower, but the class had to rendezvous at 8:00, and there was no way she'd be able to navigate it in time. There was probably a line, anyway.

She settled for changing instead. Marinette stripped off her shirt and pants and bundled them into a ball. She leaned over her suitcase so that she could put them in her laund-

Adrien opened the door.

Their eyes met in the hotel mirror.

* * *

She could _not_ sit next to him on the subway. She. Could. Not. Honestly, Marinette considered it a bit of a small personal triumph that she was even able to be in the same subway car as Adrien.

She pulled her hoodie deeper over the sides of her face and sunk down in her seat. Normally she would have gone for something cuter to wear - it was her professional opinion as a designer that there was a time and a place for hoodies, and that was either when exercising or at home - but today had already landed definitively in the "fuck it" pile, and would you look at that? It's only 8:30!

Marinette glanced in front of her at Alya's concerned look. When she knew she had Marinette's eyes, she mouthed _'What happened?'_

Marinette pulled the hood down over her eyes and wished for the trip to end.

The subway was loud and smelled bad.

The 1 train deposited them at Battery Park at exactly nine o'clock in the morning, and a class full of French kids far away from home started to lazily make their way to meet their designated tour guide at the Bull.

Max lead the way, feeling by far the most uppity (and smug). Mylene pulled gently on Ivan's sleeve and pointed across the bay to where the Statue of Liberty was. Marinette brought up the rear of the class, emerging slowly from the subway station.

For a moment, she stopped walking. Closing her eyes, she gathered all the strength she had from her three-hour-sleep and stomped her foot.

No. This was not her. Marinette Dupain-Cheng didn't mope, she took action, and by God, the girl who was Ladybug wasn't going to let a few embarrassing incidents ruin her first trip overseas. This ends now.

Marinette breathed in through her nose, and out through her mouth, and with a small nod, she removed her hoodie.

She was immediately pelted in the chest by the angry finger of Chloe Bourgeois.

"You." Chloe hissed. "We need to talk."

 _Well okay, great. We're doing this now._

Marinette rubbed her face with her hands. "What do you want, Chloe?"

"When I showed up in that room last night, I assumed that Adrien had invited you out of pity, because everyone was invited, but when I found out this morning that you were staying in the same _suite_ as him?" Chloe reared back, fury in her eyes. "This. Will. Not. Persist!"

Marinette closed her eyes shut and held up what she considered to be an incredibly patient hand in protest. "Chloe, stop. Please just stop. Nothing's going to happen between me an-"

Chloe let out a shrill laugh. "Of course nothing's going to happen between you two! I just didn't think that you'd stoop to something so _indecent_ to try and get your claws into him." She leaned in close, "Don't think everyone doesn't know about your little crush, Marinette. If you honestly think that Adrien would _ever_ be seriously interested in _you_ , than you're more delusional that I thought."

Marinette opened her eyes and glared. "I didn't decide upon the rooms, Chloe."

"Oh, nooooo, you just decided to have your little _minion-"_

Marinette balled up her fists, leaned into Chloe's face, and roared.

"CHLOE _SHUT UP!_ FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE JUST _SHUT UP AND LEAVE ME ALONE!"_

For the first time since Marinette had known her, Chloe Bourgeois couldn't speak. Glancing over to her left, Marinette realized that the entire class hadn't heard their conversation, they had only heard her.

And they had _all_ heard her. And they all stared.

For the second time in as many days, Marinette felt the sting of tears in her eyes, but she fought them back like a lion. She scanned her class, meeting eyes with Alya, with Juleka, with Nino, with-

Adrien looked so confused and so hurt.

Marinette pulled her hood back up over her head and turned in the other direction.

"...I'm sorry," she whispered to Chloe.

Marinette picked a direction and began to walk away from the group. Distantly, she heard Mme. Bustier begin to protest, and Alya begin to yell something about how Marinette came down with a stomach virus last night and would blah blah blah who cared?

Honestly, who even cared anymore?

She didn't want this for today. All she had wanted was to have a nice vacation.

And... and she wanted to see Chat, goddamnit. She wanted to talk to him about this stuff. Maybe he could help her sort things out?

Maybe he could just give her a _hug?_ Marinette really felt like she needed a hug right now. Like that would somehow make things alright if it was coming from him.

Very briefly, she considered transforming to try and call him, just to talk. She wanted to very badly, but she knew that Tikki had barely eaten anything recently, and just in case...?

Ladybug would never be that irresponsible.

She was always brave, and she was always smiling, and she never never never ran away.

* * *

This was the worst day of Daniel's life, he was sure of it.

Fired. _Fired_. He had just _barely_ made rent last month, and it was already the fifteenth, and as of about an hour ago he was unemployed. He wandered around St. Marks, hiding the sad, weak beer he'd bought in a paper bag. Nobody asked questions in St. Marks. That's part of what he liked about it.

How was he going to tell Julie? Her period was late this month, and she was too scared to buy the test. What if it was positive? What the hell were they going to do then? There was no way they'd be able to support... to...

Would he have to move back in with his parents in Ohio? Would Julie even come with him?

Daniel stood stock still at the corner, before turning and deciding to head downtown. His friend Josh worked in that bakery down in Tribeca, maybe they had a job opening?

"Sir?" the voice interrupted his thoughts. "Sir, what's in that bag?"

Daniel looked up and saw a beat cop, staring down at him. The cop didn't look tired. He looked determined. He looked gamefully employed.

Daniel started shaking his head. This _couldn't_ be happening.

"C'mon, man," he began.

"Sir, I'm going to need you to hand me the beverage for inspection."

Daniel's hand gripped around the can. Why had he bought this? Shouldn't he have been saving his money? Christ, he didn't even really _like_ beer...

For a moment he thought about running, but didn't running always make things worse? What was he supposed to do?

He looked up at the sky and prayed for something - anything - to change his day.

Daniel was about to hand over the Coors Light when, unseen by anyone, a small, dark butterfly slipped into it. Daniel's day suddenly began to change.

* * *

Marinette had managed to buy a latte, with a lot of pointing and the magic of credit cards, and had found herself a bench to sit down on. She just needed some time alone, to rally. Slipping out her phone and earphones, she scrolled through her music in search of something that might help her out right now.

Nothing in English. _Please_ no. No more gibberish that she couldn't make heads or tails of, all aggressive consonants and elusive vowels. Two-word phrases that changed the meanings of _both_ words beyond any logic or sanity. 'Make out'? 'Get down'? _Why?_ How was anyone supposed to make _sense_ of it?

She couldn't deal with that right now. Right now she needed home. She needed...

...well, she knew what she needed, but she also knew she wasn't going to get it. She settled for the next best thing.

Her finger clicked. Tryo. "Serre-Moi". This was one of her favorites. Usually when she played it she would idly fantasize of Adrien, but right now was not the time for that. She just needed to let the music fill her, and warm her, and carry her away for a moment with its beauty.

Marinette closed her eyes and breathed in deep and tried to think of anything other than him, and how much better she'd feel if he was here.

The song only got to the second chorus before she heard the screams.

Her head snapped to attention, and the earphones came out with a pop. Marinette scanned the streets for anything that seemed to be causing commotion. It didn't take her long.

The akuma took up half the street, and seemed to be dragging cars along with it. At first glance, it seemed to be a purple lizard that had this thing stuck in one of its back scales that looked like...

...was that a beer can?

"{I am the Ninety-Nine Percent!}" The akuma screamed out of its reptilian mouth. "{And I'm gonna _Occupy_ this Wall Street!}"

Why was this happening now? Why here? Did Papillon follow her? Did he know who she was?

Marinette shoved her questions down. Now wasn't the time. She didn't even wait for it to get out of view before opening her purse and glancing in.

"Tikki?!"

Tikki looked weak, but gave a reassuring smile. "I think we can. If we're... a little fast about it?"

Marinette nodded, and smiled back. "I think we have to try. I'm sorry! I swear I'll get you some cookies after this before we join back up with the class."

After a cursory glance to make sure all eyes were on the lizard, the spots came on, and she was away.

Ladybug heard a few gasps from the road below. New York had heard of the famed Parisian crime fighter, but none had seen her with their own eyes. They certainly saw her now, as she swung around City Hall and shot through the air like a jet fighter.

The wind whipped at her face again. Something about swinging in New York felt _faster_ in a way that both excited and scared Marinette. She remembered last night's near-fall with a soft coldness. Whatever she did today, she had to be careful.

With a flip, she landed in front of the monster on Broadway and watched it skid to a halt. She, at least, had its attention. This at least was something Marinette knew she could do well.

"Stop harming these people!" Ladybug yelled in her most commanding voice, finger pointed authoritatively at his snout. "I know this is scary, but you're not yourself right now! Just hand me the can, and I can make everything okay."

The akuma cocked its head.

"{What?}"

Oh shit. Oh _shit._

Ladybug wet her lips, suddenly unsure. The eyes of the entire street were upon her. She heard confused murmurs all around, in a language she couldn't get a handle on. Ladybug cleared her throat, and took a deep breath.

She turned to the crowd. "{ALL OKAY SOON! NO WORRY! PLEASE LEAVE!}"

Some snickers sounded off. No one moved.

In front of her, the akuma laughed, "{It sounds like you won't hear my demands! I'll just have to _reclaim-_ }"

Ladybug tuned him out. To herself: "Okay, okay, okay, you can do this. You don't need to talk to them anyway." She looked back up at the monster and started to twirl her yo-yo.

The beer can, right? I mean it _had_ to be.

The monster sneered, shaking its head, "{-and it will be with the voice of the people, that-}"

Ladybug's yo-yo shot out, hooking onto the nearest building with ease. She launched herself forward, arching ten stories over the lizard's back - far out of his reach. All that was left was to get one more hook and swing down into it.

Ladybug shot the yo-yo onto another fire escape and-

SNAP!

 _What?_

What Ladybug hadn't known - couldn't possibly have known - was that the city was forcing that particular building to renovate its ancient fire escape, which had long been designated a safety hazard, and deemed 'incapable of holding human weight'. Ladybug watched as the rusted rungs of the fire escape she had latched onto snapped off into the air, spraying dust and debris onto the crowd below.

And she was falling again.

Marinette snapped the yo-yo back to her, and looked up at the sky, desperate for another foothold, but there _weren't_ any here, and in her last second she screamed and tossed blindly up to-

An arm wrapped around Ladybug's waist, taking her into a gentle hold. There was the familiar pull up as the baton pushed down - he always tried to make it as gentle as possible on her. He thought she didn't notice, but she did.

Was she dreaming?

"Well, I must say, you were in a bit of purr-il there, m'lady."

She screwed her eyes shut and tried to hide the smile that kept breaking across her face. She couldn't.

"You're late, kitty."

"I guess we're both having an off-day. I won't tell anyone if you won't."

Ladybug circled her arms up around his and for a moment just breathed him in. She still couldn't look at him right now - she knew she'd break down if she did.

Her voice choked a little when she asked: "What the _hell_ are you doing here, Chat?"

Before he could answer, her miraculous let out its first warning beep. Ladybug's eyes snapped open, the reality of the situation came down upon her like cold water.

She turned and looked into his eyes and it really _was_ him. _How_ was it really him? Ladybug shook the errant, tumbling emotions out of her head and said quickly: "Chat, I didn't feed my kwami last night. We've gotta be fast!"

He nodded. "Then quick we shall be."

They slid to the ground to discover the akuma already further beyond them. It was headed for the Bull - for Marinette's classmates. Wall Street was being savaged on either side of the street, smashed windows and ruined cars. It was a small miracle no buildings had come down yet.

Ladybug scanned the area, using that part of her brain that Chat was always in awe of. There was no time for a Lucky Charm, but her tactical acumen needed only seconds.

"Look, I know what to do, I just keep having trouble swinging here." She looked at her partner. "I'm gonna get us over it, but then I'm gonna need your baton as an anchor point. Can you do that?"

Chat smiled, "As my lady commands."

Her miraculous beeped again. "Then I _command_ it, you dumb cat, let's go!" She grabbed his arm and aimed for the roof of the nearest building.

She shot, still feeling uncertain that the length of the yo-yo would allow for such a thing. This was no time for test runs.

For a second she held her breath.

Just reached! Ladybug tugged on the rope and grinned victoriously. "Hold on tight, Chaton!"

She pulled harder than she ever had before, straight up.

And they were in the air. Way in the air. Ladybug had managed to slingshot them far over the skyline, over the akuma, over the isle of Manhattan. It spread out in every direction below them, like an arrow slowly pointing towards their goal at its southern tip.

For a moment they floated, together, weightless. Ladybug looked out at the bay, in awe - sparkling blue. She could see boats in the distance, the ferry heading towards the famous statue. She'd never been this high in the air before, and there was no way Chat had.

This was what eagles felt like. Together, they were an albatross.

Ladybug looked at him, and Chat looked at her.

And before gravity started to take its hold on them again, she did the only real thing she'd genuinely wanted to do all day.

She kissed him.

It was quick, more of a peck, for _really_ they were already beginning to fall again. But it was soft, and it tasted sweet - pink somehow. For a second, Chat was sure he had imagined it, but one look at his partner dispelled all doubts.

She was laughing. She looked _free_. They had already begun to fall again, and surely they were in truly _mortal_ danger if somehow this plan went wrong, but she was beaming. Chat knew now all they needed was a little luck.

Ladybug gripped his hand.

 _Don't worry,_ the squeeze seemed to communicate. _I'm a lucky girl._

They were just reaching the tops of the buildings again when Ladybug screamed "Chat, _now!"_

A lot of things happened very quickly:

Chat extended the baton parallel to the road and into the buildings on either side, scraping down along their sides and slowing their descent. Glass showered down on the street below. Ladybug released his hand and let herself fall for about 40 meters before shooting the yo-yo back up to wrap around his baton. Still falling, her rope hit an end right above the akuma's back. She _just_ managed to get a hand on the beer can. The rope became taut, and Ladybug bungeed back up to Chat, tossing it handily into his paw.

Cataclysm activated without a second thought. Swinging in a circular arc overhead, and then coming back around, Ladybug managed to get a hand on Chat, stopping her spin and freeing up her yo-yo to release the akuma.

They watched together, him holding them both aloft over traffic, as a pure white butterfly flew harmlessly into the sky.

There was a laugh in her voice as she whispered, "Bye bye, little butterfly."

Chat looked down at her again, their faces were practically touching. Ladybug grinned at him.

And then her miraculous beeped. Fourth warning. Ladybug's eyes went wide.

"Uhhhhokay we need to get me out of here. I still need to do the cure, but then I'll transfo-"

"Down or up?!" Chat asked in a panic, looking for the best solution. "Which do you want, down or up?"

" _Up!_ Take me up, now!"

Chat retracted the baton, and spun it ninety degrees in one paw and shot right into the ground. As he lifted them to the roof of the nearest building, he heard her call out her own name, and knew the cure was working its magic.

Though it was usually his favorite part, Chat didn't watch the world get fixed this time. He was just concentrating on landing them on this building before-

There was a blinding flash of red, right as Chat's foot touched the top of the office building. He closed his eyes, and wrapped his arms around her to protect her, and they roughly bounced and rolled and scraped across the gravelly concrete before coming to rest right in the middle of the roof.

Down below, cheering was heard. They had done it.

And now, they were alone.

Chat felt her breathing against his chin. Vibrations emanated from her, through his chest, when she started to laugh, incredulously.

"Holy crap..." she intoned, breathlessly. "I can't believe we just did that."

Chat smirked. He kept his eyes shut tight. "Yes, all things considered, I'd have to say that it was-"

"Don't. Come on that's one's so ol-"

"-pretty _miraculous_."

"Jeez."

"New York, I love you? More like _Mew_ York, I _Paw_ You."

"That one's bad!" She groaned against his chest, but soon there was the gentle rumble of another laugh forming. She sighed, and there was a smile in it.

"You're such an idiot, you know that?" Chat felt her fingers trace over his jawline, finding a place tangled in his hair. Even if he couldn't look at her, she was certainly looking at him. She shook her head, gently. "How were you there? How are you _always_ there...? What are you even doing in the city?"

He couldn't answer, and she knew it. A comfortable silence descended between them, her hand playing idly with his hair.

Eventually though, he _had_ to ask. He had to somehow confirm it had actually happened, and wasn't somehow the fever dream of his adrenaline and panic.

He tilted his head, choosing his words very carefully. "Say... when we were above the city... d-did you-"

A gentle finger descended upon his lips.

"Shhh..." she said gently, "Don't talk right now, kitty. Just... please don't talk anymore. I just need... I just need to..."

She trailed off into silence, and Chat waited patiently for her to continue. Instead, she wrapped her arms around him, and there was the gentle push of her face nuzzling into his chest.

Chat held her, and felt her shudder in his arms.

"I missed you," she whispered into him, barely audible. "Chat, I missed you so much. I had no idea how much I would. I had no idea that I would... that I would just _fall apart_ if..."

Chat tightened his grip on her, and she stopped talking.

For several moments, there was only this closeness and warmth. Chat breathed in her hair, and though there was a part of him that desperately wanted to open his eyes, finally to discover who it was that had stolen his heart all that time ago, right now this was more than enough.

At the end of the day, it didn't really matter who she really was - because she was _her_.

Eventually, the girl sighed, and stirred in his arms. Chat felt a sting of disappointment as she sat upright. Her legs sat on either side of his waist, but her warmth was gone from his chest, his heart.

"I have to go," she said. There was a small leap in his heart when he could tell she didn't want to.

"Can you get down from here?" he asked.

"Yeah, it's no problem. There's a roof exit right there."

"Oh," Chat murmured. "Sorry, I can't see it."

She shifted on top of him, laying back down so that she was more on his chest again. Chat had the feeling he was being looked at, though he couldn't be sure. Her hand cupped the side of his face.

"I know."

Another small shifting. When she spoke again, he felt her breath on his lips. "I can't... promise this will ever happen again, chaton. But... you were kind enough to keep my secret from yourself. So this is a secret you can keep for you."

This time when she kissed him, it was slow, and it lingered. Chat breathed in her scent from all around, and allowed his hands to cup her lower back. She didn't taste like anything he had ever experienced, but _exactly_ like he'd imagined she would. It was sweet in a way he couldn't describe, like a ripened fruit you had never eaten before.

The girl allowed a soft push with her tongue into his own, just once - just to show she meant it. It was a gentle intrusion, but Chat could hear its meaning as if it had been spoken.

 _'This might not last,'_ it said, _'but for this moment, I am yours entirely.'_

She was his. And she was perfect and golden and hot like the sun.

And then she retreated.

There was a final, tentative kiss on his lower lip, and then the girl was away. He heard some footsteps on the roof, and the swing of a door, and then she was gone.

Chat waited another minute before he had the courage to open his eyes.

"Plagg..." he whispered to no one at all, "what do I do about Marinette?"

Staring up at the sky, all he could see was blue.


	5. Chapter 5

Gabriel Agreste's glass of wine dropped from his hand, and stained the carpet. He stood alone in a room, in a state he very seldom found himself: complete and utter shock.

It wasn't possible. It just _wasn't_ possible.

He had called the akuma to wreak some havoc, cause some destruction. There would be some loss of life and property and then it would be dismissed, like Godzilla into the ocean. He had planned to wait another day or two and then call another, just to test the waters. Maybe number two would be challenged, maybe she wouldn't.

The third had been when he had planned for them to show up. They'd outplayed him by nearly a _week._

He began to pace furiously around the room, stomping out a maniac pattern on the carpet of his ludicrously expensive hotel room. He hadn't even been watching through the akuma this time. He had

just seen the flash of red, and then felt the avatar missing, stolen away by some miraculous force.

Spinning, he turned on the television to a news channel. Sure enough, there they were. Attractive Americans were busy extolling the virtues of and speculating on what Paris' heroes could possibly be doing in New York. It was a little bit of a rocky start at first, John, but then with this just amazing aerial stunt they really brought it home, and there's even some speculation from fans that when they were in the air they might have ki-

Gabriel turned off the channel, and threw the remote into the television. Then he flipped the television.

He'd have to pay for that.

Gabriel ran a hand over his face and tried to come up with any plausible explanation of what Ladybug and Chat Noir were doing so far away from home.

 _Could they teleport?_ No, that was ludicrous. He would have seen that ability manifest well before this.

Did they know his identity? Could they track him? Had they even come with him?

 _Could they even be on Adrien's insipid class trip?_

No, they could never have deceived him for so long. The plane. They must have come on the plane.

Gabriel picked up the phone and called Nathalie. "Give me the manifest of the Air France flight we came here on. Passengers and crew. I don't care what you have to do to get it."

He hung up without awaiting a response.

Gabriel righted the television, ran a hand over his hair, and looked out of his window.

He _hated_ this ugly city.

* * *

Stepping out of the bakery, Marinette felt better than she had in years. She'd managed to up-end half the box of cookies into her purse for Tikki, and heard the kwami happily eating happily away at her much-deserved sustenance.

Marinette, for her part, couldn't stop grinning. She felt like an idiot, walking through Manhattan, radiating happiness like she'd just won the lottery.

"Do you want to talk?" Tikki asked, in between a mouthful of cookies.

Marinette thought, then nodded, removing her cellphone and holding it out before her mouth. Speakerphone. Worked every time in public.

"I uh... yeah," Marinette nodded. "Sure. What's up?"

"How are you feeling?"

 _Perfect._

"I'm good! I think I'm good. Better."

Tikki munched excitedly. "Is there anything... you want to talk about?"

Marinette giggled. She lowered her voice and brought the phone closer to her lips. "I... I _kissed_ him, Tikki."

"You kissed him _twice!"_ Tikki exploded from her pocketbook. Marinette heard the small sounds of applause down below, and couldn't suppress another laugh. "It was so romantic, Marinette!"

Marinette flushed, "I meannn I guezzzzit waaaass a little romantic-"

"Over the _island,_ too! Oh, and with the ocean and the statue?! I was so happy for you!"

Glancing down, Marinette grinned at Tikki in her bag. The little kwami's elation shined out of the bag like a flashlight.

"Can I tell you a secret?" Marinette said conspiratorially. Tikki nodded eagerly in anticipation. Marinette brought her purse up to her face, and whispered directly into it: "I really want to do it _again."_

Tikki flew happily in a little circle, making unintelligible sounds of joy. Marinette cleared her throat, let her bag drop to her side, and resumed pretending with the phone.

"It's _insane_ that he was here though, right? I mean what are the odds?" Marinette shook her head, still absolutely dumbfounded by the coincidence. She had always inherently known that when she was in Paris, Chat Noir had her back, but all the way across the ocean? It boggled the mind.

 _That stupid cat really knows how to spoil a girl._ Marinette suppressed another laugh of happiness that threatened to boil out of her mouth. She had to stop laughing. Someone was gonna arrest her soon.

"But for real, though," Marinette asked. "What do you think he's doing in New York?"

A curious, cookie-filled silence.

"Tikki?"

Marinette glanced down into the bag, and saw Tikki worrying coyly on a cookie. The kwami shrugged.

The realization shot through Marinette like a lightning bolt from Zeus.

 _No!_

She grabbed the edges of her bag, disregarding her act entirely.

"You know who he is?!" Marinette was aghast. Tikki finished chewing and tilted her head guiltily.

"I um... I have my suspicio-"

"You. Know. Who. He. _IS!"_

Tikki swallowed heavily and shot Marinette a strict look. "Marinette, we're in public..."

She resumed with the stupid phone gag, her eyes wide with the realization. The eyes probably helped to sell 'Crazy French Girl' to the handful of New Yorkers that had started to stare, but Marinette was well beyond charades. She tried to get her breathing back under control.

"I can't believe this..."

"Look," the voice from her bag continued, more softly. "A long time ago, you and Chat Noir made a mutual agreement to not discover each other's identity on purpose. Out of respect for you and him, I decided at that same moment that I would allow you both to find out on your own, in your own time."

"But... but you _know..."_

"And one day," Tikki continued, "you will, too. Probably sooner than you think."

"B-but this is, _important_ , Tikki! What if I just kissed-"

Adrien Agreste didn't see Marinette as he stepped out of the cheese store, and the two collided bodily.

"{Oh, I'm sorry!}" he said, putting out an arm to steady whomever he just walked into. "{I'm really sorry, I wasn't look...}"

For a moment, two pairs of eyes met in equal parts surprise and embarrassment, and neither one knew what the hell to do.

Marinette was the first to move, looking at the ground and standing stock still next to him. Adrien cleared his throat and looked around the street.

Human traffic passed them by in a stream, completely unaware how bizarre and awkward this situation must be for the both of them.

Adrien took a breath.

"So-"

"I'm sorry," Marinette said.

Adrien looked down at her, surprised. She was still studying the sidewalk.

"I'm really... I'm _really_ s-sorry about last night," she continued, "I just had some th-things going on, and I think I got a little over-um-overwhelmed by them, and I..." A breath to gather thoughts. "Look, I think you're a really nice guy, and I really like spending time with you, and I didn't want you to get the impression that you were being _inappropriate_ or... or whatever, and... I feel like you felt that way after, but it was just me being an idiot, and I'm sorry."

She met his eyes and tried a small, brave smile. "This one's on me. I'm sorry, Adrien. I messed up."

Adrien felt a warmth spread across his chest that he hadn't expected the veracity of. This time it was he who had to look away in embarrassment. That girl could really stare.

 _Her eyes were so blue._

"It's r-really okay," he began.

"It's not! I felt awful and weird about it and I'm sure you did, too!" Marinette clutched at the strap of her bag. "But it really wasn't anything you did, I swear!"

"No! Nuh- um... I mean..." Adrien took a moment to collect himself. "Thank you. I really, honestly appreciate it."

Marinette smiled, the first real smile from her that Adrien had seen since the dance last night. The one that he had discovered could light him up inside.

"You're welcome." She said softly.

He genuinely didn't know how much he loved Marinette's smile until yesterday. Small wonder - he'd barely seen any face from Marinette besides shock and horror until about 48 hours ago.

It reminded him a bit of someone else, oddly enough, though he couldn't put his finger on whom.

 _How did I never notice how **bright** that blue was?_

Adrien glanced at his sneakers and kicked at the ground. "I uh..."

 _Just say it. It'll help clear the air._

"I-I'm sorry that I saw you... naked," he mumbled.

Marinette blushed. Hard. She had almost forgotten about that.

"I-it's okay." she said.

"I mean, obviously it w-"

"Was an accident, yeah."

"-you know I wouldn't try to-"

"Yeah, of course, who would want to see _that_ , right?"

Adrien stopped.

"Well, I mean," he said, wetting his lips. "I mean, I think a lot of guys would w-"

They _both_ stopped.

"A lot of guys would _what?!"_ Marinette asked.

"No! It's just that you said that like-"

"'A lot of guys' would want to _burst_ into my room when I was changing to see me bending over in my underwear?!"

 _"No!_ I didn't mean-"

Marinette put her hands on her hips, completely aware that she was probably analogous in color to a fire hydrant right about now, but a little too indignant to care.

"Okay then! Please! Go ahead, Adrien: go ahead and try to explain to me what 'a lot of guys' would do if they could."

Adrien panicked. _They're so damn **blue!**_ Adrien doesn't do 'panic' well. _Say something!_

A deep, dumb, panicky soliloquy erupted from him in a single breath:

"A lot of guys think you're cute, okay?! You just said that _thing_ before like you don't think _anyone_ would _ever_ want to see you naked, and that's patently _insane_ , because - - b-because I mean, _LOOK_ at you! You're the prettiest girl in our class and everyone knows it! Don't you _see_ that?!" He took a deep breath. " _That's_ what I was trying to say!"

Marinette felt like she had a fever. Her voicebox had stopped operating.

Her _everything_ had stopped operating.

Adrien straightened up and shoved his hands deep into his pockets. "U-um... um, s-so I'm sorry. I should have knocked."

We apologize, but a problem has been detected, and the Marinette D-S system has been shut down to prevent further damage to her everything.

Adrien looked left and right, not entirely sure what to do. Marinette was just standing there.

"Hey, um, are you okay?"

Nuffin.

Adrien took a small step closer.

"Um, Marin-"

Hard reboot.

"H-huh?!" Marinette shouted, entirely too loudly. Adrien leaned back a little bit.

"I asked if you were okay."

Marinette made the executive decision to shove this entire conversation into 'things she would have to unpack later', drew a deep breath in, and nodded.

"Uh-huh!" she said.

Adrien nodded slowly, once. "So... so we're cool, then?"

Marinette nodded quickly, many times. "Yes, we're cool."

"Okay, awesome." Adrien relaxed a bit, and took a deep breath, cracking his neck. He checked the time on his phone.

Marinette was busy mentally counting to thirty in a last-ditch effort to calm herself down.

 _He said I was cute. He said I was the **cutest.**_

"Hey," Adrien said, "So... I know we should get back to the class and everything, but did you maybe wanna... I dunno. Go do something else?"

Crap, she'd only gotten to 17.

17 helped a _little_ though.

Marinette straightened, running her hands down the front of her hoodie to straighten out its appearance. "Wh-what do you m-mean, exactly?"

Adrien glanced at the sky, seemingly a little embarrassed. "It's just that... this is gonna sound dumb, but there's this book store called 'The Strand', and it's not on the class itinerary, but it's really awesome. I wanted to visit it again while I was here." He cocked his head at her, questioningly. "Did you wanna maybe go with me? It's cool, I swear. We could grab lunch or something, too."

Marinette's eyes got a little wider.

"I..." she began.

This had been _quite_ a roller-coaster of a day, and this was a Big Decision Moment. This was a branching path. It was time to take stock.

She actually did want to go. Deeply.

 _It would be a date,_ part of her brain whispered. _Adrien is asking you to ditch the class and go on a **date** with him. He said you were the **cutest girl** in class._

If you had told Marinette a week ago that such a thing would have happened to her in the near future, she would have combusted like a phoenix right then and there. Poof! Up in flames, an ex-Mari in a pile of ash.

This was everything she had been desperately hoping for for two years.

But...

But then she remembered Alya's face on the subway. She remembered moping and screaming and not talking to anyone. She remembered how shocked Chloe looked when she had exploded at her. Marinette had no great love for Chloe Bourgeois, but she never meant to _hurt_ the girl, and she looked...

 _...she had looked a little scared._

Marinette had been running from her problems all morning, but she had just gotten done being Ladybug.

Ladybug didn't run from problems. She made decisions and she faced consequences.

 _But he's asking you on a **da-**_

It was time for consequences.

Marinette also looked at her phone, finding it in her hand. It was just past 11:00. She sighed, heavy with regret, and forced the words out of her mouth. She knew they were the right ones.

"I think w-we should probably get back to the class," she finished. "I was being a real jerk to everyone all morning, and I wouldn't want them to think we got... y'know. Hurt or anything."

Adrien deflated a bit. He looked guilty. "Oh, jeez. Yeah, I hadn't even thought about that..."

"B-but!" Marinette said, quickly. "I would honestly love to go after we're done with the day. W-we can head out after we all get dinner!" She shuffled her feet. "Rain check?"

Adrien look at her fondly, then nodded.

"Yeah, let's do it," he said, smiling. "You know, I actually think it's open late, anyway."

* * *

By the time the noon rendezvous rolled around, Adrien and Marinette were already waiting for the class at the Natural History Museum. They waved as everyone approached.

As the group matriculated in through the entrance, Marinette pulled Alya to the side, apologizing profusely.

Alya pulled her into a hug, "Mari, I was just _worried_ about you! It's totally fine." She held the other girl at arm's length. "Everybody has off days. It's no big deal."

Marinette pulled Alya back into a hug, "I was so scared that you'd be angry at me!"

"Nah, I was just... ugh, y'know, Mari." Alya took her hand and started to walk them after the class. "I thought you guys might have had fun last night, and then I thought you guys might have _fun_ last night, and then I thought maybe only _one_ of you guys had had fun last night and the other one had kicked his dumb, horny ass out onto the couch, or..." She sighed, trailing off. "I just had a lot of thoughts. Unanswered questions."

Marinette dragged a hand down her face. "I know! And I was being such a bitch to you!"

Alya chuckled, patting her back. "It's really okay, girl. I swear." She looked at her friend sideways. "Did something happen, though?"

Mari rolled her eyes, "No, not really."

"You didn't have sex?"

 _"Ha!_ Not even close."

"Did you guys kiss?"

 _No, I kissed Chat. I kissed him twice, and I liked it._

Marinette stumbled.

Alya cocked an eyebrow. "Did he kiss something other than-?"

"NO. No, honestly," Mari shook her head and shuddered. "We didn't kiss. We listened to some music, danced a bit, he said some cute things and then I ran away like a weirdo. That's really all that happened. It was my fault."

"For real?"

"For real."

Alya looked a little unconvinced, but shrugged and nodded nonetheless. She knew that whatever it was Marinette was hiding would come out in time. Marinette was famously bad with secrets.

Marinette sighed airily and checked how far behind the class they were. When she had confirmed they were 'a respectable distance', she leaned over to Alya:

"...he did call me the prettiest girl in class and ask me on a date before we came here, though."

Alya spun them to face each other. "Mari! You've become such a _player_ right before my eyes! I'm so proud of you!"

The friends pulled each other into another hug, giddy and jumping. Marinette tried to share in the excitement - and honestly she _was_ excited - but she didn't seem entirely as stoked as Alya had assumed she would be.

This was because Marinette's brain had suddenly gone back into a very different place. That place was on the roof, feeling the concrete bite at her knees and feeling her lips on his mouth and the stubble beneath her fingers and his hands clutching at her back as if she was the only thing that allowed him still to breathe.

* * *

The Strand, if you've never been, proudly proclaims itself the home of "18 Miles of Books", which are spread across four floors. They are floor to ceiling, packed together along winding shelves, and give the impression that eighteen miles might frankly be an understatement.

Not that Marinette would know that. She wouldn't know how long a 'mile' was, anyway.

Currently she found herself deep in the back, perusing through various editions of the classics, currently stocked with the most likely Summer Reading assignments for New York's schoolchildren.

Mostly? Honestly? She was enjoying the covers.

The folio classiques were much cheaper, and there was a proud pull in her chest that _France_ knew education and universal literacy to be of the highest priority, but...

But they were just so _colorful!_ Marinette found herself taking books of the shelves just to see the design work that was put into it before sliding it back into place.

Adrien sidled up to her. "Pretty cool, huh?"

Marinette nodded, appreciatively. "Yeah! It's super nice. I like it." She beamed up at him, fixing him with an innocent gaze: "I'm so disappointed I can't _read_ any of them. All of human knowledge, locked away from my grasp. Life is a cruel joke."

Adrien's look of shock made her crack up. She punched him in the arm.

"I'm _kidding!_ Honestly, reading English is so much easier than speaking it that it's insane. You can take it slow - slow I can do." Her fingers flitted over the spines until they found a copy of _The Tempest_. She pulled it off the shelf, displaying it before her chest proudly. "I read _this_ in English."

Adrien's eyebrows raised. "Really?"

Marinette nodded proudly. "Sure did."

"Did you like it?"

"I have no idea. I didn't understand a damn word of it," she smirked and put it back on the shelf. "I had one of those side-by-side editions, you know? I read the French, mostly, but... you know, the stuff I could understand I thought sounded really beautiful."

Adrien grinned and followed her as she walked down a narrower aisle. "I wouldn't _start_ with Shakespeare, for sure. I don't even understand a third of it, and I'm pretty good."

Marinette ably avoided a wobbly stack of books, and continued on. "In comparison to me, you're a native speaker. How did you get so good, anyway?"

Adrien shrugged, "Tutors from near-infancy, travel... you know." He swallowed uncomfortably. "I'm the Prodigal _Agreste_ , how embarrassing for the family would it be if I got on a shoot, and I couldn't understand what the Italian photographer was saying to me or something, you know? My father would never suffer me to be uneducated in public..." He sighed and stopped, glancing at the books to his left.

Marinette also came to a halt. Somewhere that had taken a turn.

She turned around and took a few tentative steps back towards him. Adrien seemed lost in thought, like he wasn't really there anymore. She'd seen this look on him before, in fleeting moments, when he didn't think anyone at school was looking. In those moments, she always wondered what it was that could possibly have made someone with such a seemingly perfect life look so downtrodden.

"Have you, um..." she took a breath. "Have you talked to your... dad? Since we got here?"

He scoffed, "Are you kidding? It was like he was trying to push me off the plane once we landed."

"I mean," Marinette ventured, "it's only been a little more than a _day_ , I guess."

"Oh, I don't really expect to hear from him."

"Until tomorrow?"

"Until the plane back."

"Oh..." Marinette felt a small needle slip in her heart. This was _hurting_ him. She'd suspected Gabriel was distant, of course, but she'd never known how it weighed on his son.

Adrien was still staring at the bookshelf, hands in his pockets, seemingly fascinated by the works of Bradbury.

"And it's funny, you know," he began, "When I asked him if we could help out your fundraiser he actually seemed _excited._ And it was... weird. To see him excited. But it made me hope that maybe... this time would be a little different?"

It wasn't a question, but it sounded like it. Marinette shifted uncomfortably.

"It still could be, Adrien. We've still got a lot of time."

A joyless laugh. "Nah, I don't think so. I'm not expecting it, anyway. It's always the same, every time. I just have to be quiet and be pretty. That's what an 'Ambassador to the Brand' does, right?"

She didn't really know what to say.

Adrien continued, still in that same, dead tone: "Do you know what's the _nicest_ thing he ever gave me? A scarf."

Marinette straightened up. She spoke not a word.

"He gave it to me for my birthday. It was nice. Blue and soft. I wore it a lot. God, I _cherished_ that thing. I still do, to be honest..." He shook his head. "We never talked about it."

Marinette's hand glided through the air and came gently down upon his arm. When Adrien looked at her, he was surprised to see her eyes were tearing up.

 _It's funny,_ he thought. _I stopped crying about it long ago. Marinette, you should-_

Her voice cut through his thoughts.

"You _matter_. You know that, right?" She sniffed. "I'm sorry if sometimes he doesn't see that, but I do. I have every day since I've met you." She squeezed his arm. A single tear navigated a path across her cheek. "And right now, I know that my trip to New York - my _life_ \- would have been so much _lesser_ without you there. And I need you to know that."

There was a lot of empty praise in the modeling world. On every shoot, Adrien would hear about how great he was or how well he had done that day, but deep down, he never believed it. It was just a thing people said, to keep the status quo, to keep the models happy and placated. Adrien always thought that really anyone could do his job if they had the right cheekbones and the right posture - he was ultimately replaceable, and on a long enough timeline he would be replaced.

So when people would say those things to him, he would usually respond with a polite smile, and let it wash through him - adding no value and leaving nothing behind.

 _This_ felt nothing like that at all.

It felt like the most genuine thing anyone had said to him in a very long time, and he felt an overwhelming affection blossom somewhere deep inside of his chest.

It started as a groundswell, pushing up through his body until every part of him was filled with warmth and happiness and love. All that mattered in this moment was this girl in front of him. This stupidly beautiful girl with her hand on his arm.

And he realized quite suddenly that he would embarrass his father a thousand times over to hear her say those words again.

Marinette removed her hand and began to quickly wipe away her tears.

"Wow, I'm crying. I'm really crying right now, here, in front of you." She smiled, followed by a self-conscious laugh. "I'm really sorry. I don't know what came over m-"

Adrien kissed her.


End file.
